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How Oklahoma Cracked the Hailey Dolcini Code to Beat Texas

The Sooners were excited for a fourth Red River showdown, and Saturday proved why.
Ross Lovelace|
How Oklahoma Cracked the Hailey Dolcini Code to Beat Texas
How Oklahoma Cracked the Hailey Dolcini Code to Beat Texas

OKLAHOMA CITY — After an electrifying first two plate appearances for Oklahoma on Saturday, the Sooners’ bats went ice cold.

Jayda Coleman’s leadoff double and  Jocelyn Alo’s two-run homer seemed like distant memory with four innings down.

With Hailey Dolcini back on the mound for Texas, OU had its work cut out. 

Dolcini was one of two pitchers to knock off the Sooners this season, snapping a 40-game win streak back in April.

Dolcini was dealing again early in their Women’s College World Series rematch, but this time, the OU lineup wore her down in a 7-2 victory at Hall of Fame Stadium.

Patty Gasso mentioned playing a familiar foe would be a benefit to the Sooners, who faced Texas for the fourth time this season — this time in a winners bracket game on the biggest stage. But Saturday was starting to feel like a repeat of the previous matchup in Austin.

Oklahoma headed into the fifth inning leading 2-1, with no runs scored since the second at-bat of the game. Desperately needing energy, the Sooners turned back to Coleman, one of the team’s biggest sources of life all season.

Dolcini had retired nine straight OU batters, something that hadn’t happened throughout the entirety of conference play.

With Rylie Boone already on second, it was the perfect time to strike. Coleman, who started the game off with her double, cracked Dolcini’s code again with a shot to right center, bringing Boone home for a 3-1 OU lead. Coleman’s rip was exactly what the Sooners needed, as the bats came to life and finally poured on a huge inning against Dolcini and the Longhorns.

Following Boone’s score from second, Alo singled up the middle to advance Coleman into scoring position. That’s when Texas opted to pull Dolcini, putting in freshman Sophia Simpson.

Tiare Jennings, who hit the third grand slam of her career in OU’s first-round win over Northwestern, welcomed the UT freshman to the WCWS by cranking a deep two-run home run and blasting the game wide open. For the second time in the game, Texas was plagued by the top of the Sooners' lineup, nicknamed "Murderers Row" by head coach Mike White following the game.

Suddenly, in what looked to be an epic defensive battle, the Sooners created an insurmountable 6-1 lead.

Dolcini had been a thorn in Oklahoma’s side over the first few meetings. Prior to Saturday’s battle, she had allowed just five hits in two games, holding the Sooners to five total runs. Saturday, in the fifth inning alone, the Sooners recorded five hits, a moon shot and four total runs.

As a team known for massive innings, the Sooners’ offense got back to the basics against Dolcini.

"I don't really think we ever play out or revenge or with hate in our heart over," said Coleman who sparked the Sooners’ run. "We really just play for one audience. That's why we play so free and that's why we play so fun. So yeah, it was a tough day watching them celebrate like that (in the loss at Texas), but the next day it was over. Today we just played free."

With the Sooners’ offense back on track, Alo’s redemption against the Texas bullpen was a huge story. After going 1-for-9 in Oklahoma’s three-game regular-season  series with the Longhorns, including 0-for-6 and two strikeouts against Dolcini, the super senior was back to dominating. She finished the game 2-for-3 at the plate with a home run and two RBIs.

"I kind of took a step back and knew I wasn't in the right headspace down in Austin," Alo said. "I knew that I'd see them again somehow, somewhere. So I prepared a lot for that, and as good of a pitcher as Dolcini is, is I'm a really good hitter too. And I'm going to trust myself."

After only finding 13 total hits against the Longhorns in three conference games, Oklahoma recorded 10 on Saturday alone. After riding a high-powered fifth inning, the Sooners coasted one step closer to the championship series.

"I think it was a good thing playing in our conference, that we know them," said Jennings. "The good thing is they didn't know us today. We came in a whole different team than we were in Austin. I think that was something we took advantage of, that we are different and that's why we did what we did today."

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Ross Lovelace
ROSS LOVELACE

Ross has covered the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Oklahoma Sooners since 2018. He's made guest appearances on various radio stations and the Sooners On SI podcast. Ross enjoys public speaking and has done so at multiple churches and high schools across the OKC metro area. In addition to writing, Ross has been the Play-by-Play announcer for Crossings’ basketball and football programs since 2020. In high school, Ross started with Thunder Digest, where he discovered his passion for writing. From there, he worked for the OU Daily as a women's basketball reporter and worked for Sooners On SI and Thunder On SI. Ross holds a bachelor's degree in Public Relations and a minor in Communication from the University of Oklahoma. Born and raised in Oklahoma City, Ross played basketball and wrote for his own Thunder blog at Crossings High School in OKC. He enjoys reading, New York Jets football and a week at the beach. Ross and his wife live in New Orleans, where he is a Marketing and Volunteer Coordinator at the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation and the New Orleans Super Bowl Host Committee. His Twitter handle is @Rosslovelace.

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